May 23, 1618

Defenestrations of Prague

Bohemian Protestant nobles throw two royal governors and a secretary from Prague Castle

Slavata clung to the window ledge until his fingers were struck bloody. Martinice went out still wearing his rapier and dagger. All three men survived the fall.

23 May 1618: nine in the morning at the Bohemian Chancellery

At about 9 a.m. on 23 May 1618, Protestant and Hussite members of the Bohemian estates walked into the Bohemian Chancellery at Prague Castle and confronted four of the ten royal regents.

Two were spared and escorted out: Supreme Burgrave Adam of Sternberg and Grand Prior Matthew Lobkowitz. Jaroslav Bořita of Martinice and Vilém Slavata the assembly condemned as enemies of the land, of religious liberties, and of the public peace.

Out the window

Martinice, Slavata, and the chancellery secretary Philip Fabricius were thrown through a window into the castle moat. A partisan contemporary account puts the drop at thirty cubits. All three survived.

Why they survived cannot be settled. A contemporary Catholic account describes a rocky moat and miraculous Marian protection; the famous dung heap belongs to later Protestant polemic.

From condemnation to revolutionary government

The estates believed Habsburg officials were subverting the Letter of Majesty, and blamed Martinice and Slavata for an imperial answer that rejected their grievances and prohibited further assemblies. What happened in the chancellery that morning was a summary political condemnation and a shouted vote, not a lawful trial.

The violence converted the estates' confrontation with Habsburg government into open revolt. Jindřich Matyáš Thurn and Václav Vilém of Roupov led a revolutionary administration that mobilised armed forces — against a government that was, in 1618, still Emperor Matthias's; Ferdinand was already Bohemian king but did not become Holy Roman Emperor until 1619.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 6 sources 2 audit passes

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet, rewritten from that sheet, then audited against it by a different model. How the pipeline works →

What the sources leave uncertain

The date is fixed by a contemporary account as Wednesday, May 23, the eve of Ascension Day.
Why the three men survived cannot be established securely. A contemporary Catholic account describes a rocky moat and miraculous Marian protection; the famous dung-heap explanation appears in later Protestant polemic.